


The Problem of Jonathan

by RobberBaroness



Category: Dracula - Bram Stoker, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-03-18 00:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3550049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobberBaroness/pseuds/RobberBaroness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four things things Alan Moore could have done with Jonathan Harker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Problem of Jonathan

**The Price**

 

Mina did not like to speak of her late husband, and Allan Quatermain typically did not ask.  The truth at last came out after the two made love for the first time; somehow, Mina felt there were words that needed to be spoken aloud, and that her new lover was the one she could trust with them.

“He said that if I fought, he’d break Jonathan’s neck.  I fought.”

There was no need to clarify who ‘he’ was.  The silence following her statement was broken by Mina’s harsh laughter.

“Do you know the funny part?  Fighting didn’t stop him.  I traded the life of the man I loved for my honor, and it didn’t even matter!”

Allan reached for her consolingly, but she pulled away.

“No husband would ask his wife to do any less,” he said.  “Not if he loved her.”

“We’ll never know, will we?”

 

**The Demon Lawyer**

 

If Dracula had succeeded in sowing his seed throughout the island, perhaps that would have been better.  It would have meant more work to do, a never-ending project, and Jonathan would have had his life’s work cut out for him in tracking down every last monster.  In the company of his wife and his friends he would have thrived, a crusader on a perfectly justified crusade.

If little Quincey had lived past his second year, that certainly would have helped things.  He might not have been able to protect his beloved Mina, but a defenseless child would have needed all the help he could get.  Jonathan would have spoiled him terribly, and in doing so proved his own worth as a father, a citizen, even as a husband.

If Jack had paid more attention to the writings of Sigmund Freud, he might have known to recommend other doctors when his good friend came to him for help.  Without a personal relationship to their patient, those others might have been objective and given him the advice and treatment he needed.

If the Whitechapel murders had never happened, the idea might never have occurred to Jonathan at all- the idea that a man could hold a city in his hand, throwing out anything that didn’t fit.  And a clever man wouldn’t have had to prey on defenseless women; a man of intelligence and moral character could choose his targets among those who warranted death, regardless of their personal wealth or defenses.

If, if, if.  Jonathan was a sweet boy at heart, and there were many ways it could have gone differently.  But he couldn’t know that- all he knew was that he had failed the only woman he’d ever loved, failed her in the worst way a husband could, and killing the man responsible hadn’t made things better.  Neither did his new after-work activities, but they at least numbed the pain.

One benefit to being a solicitor was that Jonathan knew a little bit about everyone, especially those accused of crimes.  His first “project”, a man accused of assaulting the maid, hadn’t even been brought to court when he was found slashed apart in his parlor.  There was no mocking letter to Scotland Yard, only one word written in blood beneath the victim’s decapitated head: MONSTER.

Just when Mina learned the truth about what the papers called the Gentleman Judge, Jonathan wasn’t sure.  After all, she didn’t ask where he’d gone at nights, and the occasional splash of blood on his shirt sleeve didn’t even make her raise an eyebrow.  But she was clever- it was one of the many things he loved her for- and he had no doubt that if she’d wanted to turn him in, he’d have swung from the gallows long ago.

The only signs she gave came in the form of remarks that he’d leave unanswered.

“We had lives before that monster.  We can have lives again.”

“I told you once that ours was not a mission of hatred.  Didn’t you understand?”

“I’m worried about you, darling.  Would you mind if I ask Jack and Arthur to check on you sometimes?”

And then, finally, “I think it would be best if we spent some time apart.”

When asked, he would say his wife left because he had not protected her.  When asked, she would say her husband found the scars upon her neck repulsive.  Neither would ever speak the truth to anyone.

 

**The Couple That Slays Together**

 

They came as a pair, or not at all.  It should have been a liability, two team members who cared more about each other than the mission, but like the ancient Spartan warriors, each Harker fought even more fiercely in the presence of the one they loved.  Quartermain envied them their good fortune to have found each other, and Jekyll was able to converse with the couple on the most rudimentary of scientific principles, but no one could ever become close to them.

(And the less said about their interactions with Hawley Griffin, the better.  Mina had threatened to leave when he was recruited, and since then, Jonathan had taken to sharpening his knives in an ostentatious fashion- and he had oh so many knives!- whenever he suspected Griffin to be present.)

If anyone had been allowed to see the Harkers in private, the tenderness of two such hardened killers would have astounded them.  Mina would bare her throat and Jonathan his chest, and each would gently kiss the others’ scars, and for a time they would seem to be what they once were- a schoolteacher and a solicitor who knew no cares but each other’s well being.

 

**Women, Plural**

 

“I can’t say very much for your taste in men, my dear.”

Irene Adler raised an eyebrow.

“Really, Mina!  Of all people, I wouldn’t have thought you would stoop so low as to bring up what a cruel aristocrat did to me as a failing of mine!”

“I wasn’t speaking of the Prince…”

Mina looked from Irene to the nearby door, where Allan Quartermain had stormed off following a heated quarrel with the opera singer.  Irene tossed her head in indignation (false indignation, Mina suspected) but there was a smile on her lips nonetheless.

“Just because I venerate a man does not mean he isn’t old-fashioned and full of his own glory.  Wherever did you get your husband, one who was willing to stay home and mind the child while his wife embarked on grand adventures? Most men would never agree to such a thing!  But romantic woes must always plague us, as New Women.”

Mina gasped, and Irene giggled to know that her use of the term had provoked her friend.

“Why does everyone keep calling me that?” Mina sighed in exasperation.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The title, of course, was inspired by Gaiman's "The Problem of Susan." "Women, Plural" comes from Alan Moore's original plan to use Irene Adler instead of Mina.


End file.
